Saturn and Uranus Transits to the 2nd/8th House Axis

Since Saturn and Uranus have been in the opposite signs most of the time since 2008, they have also been in the opposite houses of our charts. Even after the last exact opposition has passed, they’re likely to remain in the opposite houses for a while. Thus if one of them is transiting your 2nd, the other is transiting the 8th, and they have no doubt corresponded with some major financial shifts and challenges. Here’s my take on these transits.

An Overview of Saturn transits to the Career Houses: Saturn transits to these sectors represent times when performance demands are high and there are obstacles to overcome. Yet at the same time, we’re often given the chance to prove ourselves and show our capabilities in more challenging work opportunities. Our level of maturity and the life experience that we’ve accumulated and can land us a position of considerably more responsibility.

If you’ve been working both hard and smart for a long time, Saturn can bring the reward; if you’re doing a shoddy job, you’ll be held accountable. If your foundation isn’t firm enough, you’ll be asked to rebuild. My slogan is: DO RIGHT BY SATURN, AND SATURN WILL DO RIGHT BY YOU. A Saturn transit through a career house often entails a temporary sacrifice for a long-term goal.

Saturn transiting the 2nd -8th Axis: Depending on natal placements in this house, a Saturn transit to the 2nd requires a practical, common-sense approach to finances, with the tendency to live frugally and not to waste money or resources on frivolous purchases or pursuits. It may even be that the Saturn transit shows a payoff for years of hard work and sensible spending.

You may be pursuing some long-range goal, such as professional education, and so you’ll need to be very stringent with yourself financially. To establish yourself in a new career direction, you may even temporarily take a pay cut, yet this strategy should pay off in the long run. Financial stresses or a higher work load during the Saturn transit might bring you to the point of setting limits and demanding fair wages for your contribution to the workplace.

While Saturn travels through the 8th, resources you’ve counted on previously may dry up, forcing you to get serious about earning a good living of your own. It’s possible that your mate might be having a business downturn, that family members might be unwilling or unable to chip in any longer, that creditors might get tough, or that entitlements might no longer support you as well as they did in the past.

If so, you’re a bit like a young bird being kicked out of the nest in order to learn how to fly on your own. But flying on their own is exactly what birds need at a certain point in their development if they are to survive—and likewise the Universe is giving you a not-so-gentle push now so that you truly come into your own. Flying solo is scary, and yet once you get moving toward financial solidity, you’ll discover a world of gratification in being your own person. That push may be just what you needed to move your dream or bright idea from the realm of fantasy into reality.

An overview of Uranus Transits to the Career Houses:Uranus transits to these sectors can create a restless itch to change everything, just for the sake of something new. Thus you might make a series of shifts in career, residence, and even your appearance and approach to people, only to find that things are not so different after all and that the real need to change was within yourself.

Still, these repeated changes, even the ones that don’t work out, can be considered experiments in which you try out new life styles. Alas, what we tend to learn after repeated Uranus transits to the same place in the chart is that the more different something looks externally, the more it is the same on the inside.

Uranus travels through a vocational house for seven years or more, depending on the house’s width and thus the number of degrees it encompasses. These transits can be unsettling to people who don’t easily adapt to change. Typical events might include a series of sudden job moves and unforeseen shifts in the types of work done. Situations might include odd working conditions, unusual or even eccentric bosses and coworkers, layoffs or company closings, or even geographical moves due to transfers.

We typically go through a series of abrupt changes in jobs and career direction, including what look like false starts. Yet these repeated changes, even the ones that don’t work out, can be considered experiments in which we try out new possibilities. Each segment of the path is a piece of a greater puzzle, and each contributes to an ultimate outcome that integrates many facets of our unique gifts.

Many of us will experience the need to adhere to our own authority rather than an external one by becoming self-employed. In an unsettled marketplace with frequent leadership upheavals, we’re forced to develop independence and initiative.

Often by default, we get the chance to break from convention and to think for ourselves as we face rapid new developments. If Uranus is transiting a career house or aspecting the Midheaven, those unexpected developments can take you in directions you’ve never dreamed you’d pursue—or that you dreamed of but never hoped to attain.

Uranus transiting the 2nd -8th house axis: The 2nd represents earnings, and with Uranus transiting this house, you’d be able to develop profitable sidelines and multiple short-term ways of making moneys. Transiting Uranus often brings opportunities for full or part time self-employment in a consulting or independent business venture. You may yearn for and eventually gain the freedom to set your own schedule.

Especially if Jupiter is in the picture too, as it will be by conjunction most of Summer, 2010, there are likely to be times when you experience sudden windfalls or earning spikes. Enjoy them, but don’t expand your lifestyle so much that you come to count on them, because they’re likely to be unreliable and transitory. (The theme song for Uranus in the second, either natally or by transit, is, “Flying high in April, shot down in May.”)
Uranus pertains to science, technology, and especially to computers, so if your job isn’t very technical now, that’s likely to change drastically. In this phase of your curriculum vita, you need to stay just slightly ahead of the trends by continual upgrading in the areas of computers and technology.

Periodically taking courses or seminars is a survival tactic in many information-related fields. With the new level of skills, you’re likely to experience increased independence, the need to think on the fly, and ever-changing demands. You might be right up there with the avant-garde players in your field, graining recognition for innovative techniques or products.

Suppose Uranus is currently in the 8th, the house of money and resources coming from a partner, family, trust funds, inheritances, government benefits, and additional sources other than salary. In the 7 or longer years Uranus is in this house, you might well receive surprise windfalls from a variety of sources, even prize money, attract a benefactor, or a grant to develop your invention.

You’re counseled to enjoy them but not to expand your standard of living so that you count on them, because they show up suddenly and are just as suddenly gone. Another warning is that if it the benefactor seems to be living on the edge and asks that you front some cash, steer clear!

Can I be more specific than this? Like many astrologers, I confess that Uranus transits are too unpredictable to nail down precisely. Uranus’ action is ever-evolving, state of the art, and erratic. Uranus transits can create an itch to change everything, just for the sake of something new. Given this sense of restlessness, we’re likely to be exposed to a number of leading-edge ideas and tools that could stimulate our creativity, spark our inventiveness, and change our direction considerably. We may be drawn to exciting ideas, methods, and people—like-minded souls to support us in all the transitions we’ll face.

Note: These are excerpts from my series on vocational transits that appeared in 2008 in The Mountain Astrologer. For back issues, visit their site.

Coming Next: Neptune and Pluto transits to the 2nd house.

Readers, has Saturn or Uranus been transiting your 2nd/8th house axis? Please use the comment section to share what your experience has been so we can all benefit from your process.

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Responses

Uranus is just starting to go through my 2nd and I dream about working for myself from home, which I am trying to do at the moment before succumbing to office work. I have many wild ideas concerning ways to make money from the internet and new technologies (and astrology!) floating around my head and just yesterday told someone I am bursting with ideas. I hope I can concentrate on one long enough to see it through.

Saturn went into my 8th when it was in Libra and I was diagnosed with a chronic illness which has been lurking undiagnosed since my teens. It was almost a relief (and hard of course) to name it and treat it properly.

Yes one source of funds has dried up, and I have another one, which according to your article could dry up too, but I am trying to get on my feet financially so I don’t mind the kick in the butt, as I would love to feel independent again.

With a SU, NE conjunction in Libra in the 2nd, sextiling a natal SA/PL conjunction in Leo in the 12th, I want to retire. I want to retire, but am scared to death of what lies ahead if I do. Will I have enough money? Will I get bored? Will I wind up on the streets?

I am toying with the idea of doing some sort of work for myself. Maybe something in the fashion industry, like being a personal shopper, or buying clothing wholesale and selling them on e-bay. With my art background, perhaps I could learn to do makeovers (starting with myself). But, I really don’t want to get back into any sort of “rat race.”

Back in 1980, I started my own illustrating business. I illustrated high school and college textbooks. I was wildly successful until the advent of the personal computer. Then, anyone could just trace an illustration and produce it on the computer.

When this happened, the price per illustration went from over $100 each to around $15. I couldn’t survive and was forced to go back to working for someone else.

My Natal Neptune is at 8 Libra conjunct my natal Sun at 10 Libra. I have a feeling that when Uranus reaches the opposition (at 10 Aries) something bigger and more unexpected will occur. Perhaps an inheritance? Maybe winning the lottery? Hard to keep that Neptune under control!

Right now, I’m feeling an inner push to retire and move to a little beach town further north, which is more senior-friendly (and cheaper). We’ll see.

Have Saturn in 2nd House going to 3rd house and Uranus 8th House going to 9th House !!!

I have been looking at different ways to see the future Astrology(Different Kinds Vedic, Western, Chinese, etc), Palmistry, Podology, Numerology, etc.
Also Psycology, Hypnosis, Dream Cast, etc.

Many Ideas of Money making opportunities have come to me and there are some attractive ones !!!

I like all of this Great Info and while Saturn is in 2nd house i start thinking how to make all of this info can bring fruits and i start something i dont know where it is going to take me but i like it and it is interesting also takes a lot of effort and a lot of work but i like it is a strange force guiding me !!!

Thank You Donna Cunningham for all This Great Insights and All This Great Blog !!!!

Good to hear how you’ve used the Saturn-Uranus transit, Jorge. Saturn is really good for sorting out the practicalities and turning possibilities into realities through what we call sweat equity. Donna

The last time Saturn transited my 2nd house, my brother and I were living back at home and splitting my mother’s mortgage while she tried to make a life for herself elsewhere (Sun/North Node/Venus in the 2nd sextile Saturn in the 4th.) I was working as a placement counselor for an employment agency, and when business started to slow, the owners considered laying me off. When the manager (a Capricorn) heard about their plans, he not only put in a good word for me by telling them I was a top producer, he also offered to be let go in my place, since he was nearing retirement. It was one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me.

Although it was a very scary time, eventually it all worked out. And both of us kept our jobs.

Thanks for posting this. It’s right on target. I have Uranus conj Jupiter & Mercury in Libra in the 8th which Saturn will be transiting soon and transiting Uranus will be opposing them (w/ Jupiter) from the 2nd. I have been toying w/ ideas on how to make extra money, even considering astrology readings, and being self-employed. I do feel like this year is my year to make it happen.

That’s the spirit, kb. Saturn transits are the time to take our ideas to the next level by making them real. It takes a lot of work and may mean giving up some leisure activities so you can focus on doing something substantial. There might be an element of luck in the picture, given that you have a Jupiter-Uranus conjunction natally that transiting Uranus and Jupiter are setting off. Donna

Uranus and Saturn both transited through my House 2 in the 1980s. Uranus was there from 1978-1985 and Saturn from 1984-1986. I changed jobs frequently during the years Uranus was in my House 2, and even did two years of law school before deciding that wasn’t for me, so my income did fluctuate a lot, though I never felt particularly insecure about it. Interestingly enough, my income stabilized when Saturn moved into my House 2 – I got married, and with two earners, if one of us wanted to experiment with a new job, the other was always able to support us financially. Saturn can be a great planet when you make friends with it!

Are you kidding–Saturn has been very good to me, so long as I take care of business. I have Venus conjunct Saturn, and while it’s not been especially good for my Venus, I often say I have a lucky Saturn. You know the kind of thing where you get a lucky break, and people say, “You must be living right.” Well, that happens to me a lot when I am going out of my way to do the right thing. Donna

Hmmm – interesting. I have Venus opposite Saturn, so there may a be a similar effect going on – delays and disappointments in romance (though once I did get married in my early 30s, it has lasted) – but I do feel like Saturn’s energy is very good to me overall. Of course, I also have a strong Saturn influence in my chart generally, as I was surprised to discover when I took your Saturn quiz, so I do tend to make a special point of taking care of business. If anything, it would be good for me to kick over the traces a bit more often – I am learning to do that as I get older and my Uranus-Midheaven conjunction gains influence.

That’s something I couldn’t advise you on (was only entitled to Unemployment once in my entire life, during a Jupiter transit to the 8th.) I do know they’re pretty tough now, but there must be directions online or something. Donna

I’ve been in several situations already of “feeling bad” for my employers. Consequently I overextended myself and worked way harder than what I was being compensated for. Virgo rising, I can’t help myself.

Hi Michelle – I was surprised to learn that unemployment benefits are considered taxable income, although in 2009, the first $2,400.00 in benefits are excluded and therefore don’t need to be reported as gross income. You probably already knew this, but in case not, here’s a link: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc418.html

Thanks LB, I actually did know that. I paid the taxes I owed on unemployment this year. I’m excellent at paying taxes. I’ve been questioned 3 times already by the IRS (for 3 separate years). Fortunately I had all the appropriate records. I do have the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter and Chiron in the 8th!

Hi Michelle – I figured you probably knew, but now that you mention all of your placements . . . well, how could you not? Me, I’m not such an expert; we pay someone every year to do our taxes, which up until last year were very complex. It’s funny how several of our 2nd/8th house planets (and possibly signs) are reversed. I have Sun, Venus and Mercury in my 2nd, with Jupiter conjunct Mercury in my 3rd. And we both have Virgo risings.

By: LB on May 5, 2010 at 12:03 pm

Hi Donna,

I found your blog while Googling uranus opposite saturn transiting 2nd / 8th houses. They have both been transiting these houses for a while (14 degrees worth).

Read your blog w/ interest because last October (9 months ago), I bought a town home in FL and moved states to an area where I don’t know a lot of people (wanted to be near the beach and invest in real estate and start fresh). I was working from home for the NYS company I had worked for 6 years. Long story short, the major client I worked with for 3 years did not renew w/ us for 2010 and so I and another team member got let go mid March. Ironically, we had both moved down to FL from the NE and were working from home. Two other women on the team had already found themselves new jobs when we were laid off.

While I knew that Uranus / Jupiter transiting my 2nd house would bring some changes, I’ve been looking for work for 4 + months now and haven’t been able to find a job. Additionally, transiting U & J trine my natal sun and mercury in 10th house. I anticipated this as something that would bring about a positive change both professionally and financially, but nothing yet.

Have Uranus transiting 2nd. Same story. Lack of a job, because I quit the former, to do something I truly like.

So, I do plenty of “jobs”, but unpaid. Money however is stable, because I live very simple. My second house view is a little bit different than other people, I wrote a recent article on it: http://www.astrotransits.blogspot.com ; I tend to view as the attempt to manifest that which came as a realization during the transits in the first house. i

I just love your siteI was told to start visiting your blog by my astro.Teacher Marcia
George. I will keep you posted I have uranus getting ready to move to the 2nd house I am also leaving my business to move to another state April 11,2011. I am very excited as well as scared to see what lies ahead.

Oh thank you so interesting your articles my Uranus nips natally in second house , so I know waht this little erratic planet is all about , even when I try to do 9-5 pm job somehow it does not work , bit my creative work ,poetry ands songwriting is taking off,and studying astrology second d year I read horoscopes in a community spanish radio , hooping one day I could bet payed in meantime doing it for the love and experience .
Uranus is transiting my eight house right now ,as soon as I saw this planet there I thought “oh my I will maybe ,,hopefully meet an Aquarian but in the eight house ,how intense and erotic ,then I forgot all about it . I recently I machistas pout of the blue an Aquarius n contacted me yep intense ,erratic , unusual , sexual incredible that is Uranus in my eight house for sure ,I’am convinced . My descendent is aquarious !!! His mars in Aries conjuncts my sun in Aries which is natally in the eight house , and our conjunctions is in the eight house phew L!! when it good it is steamy good when it bad it it intensely bad .